Ads, if used correctly, can be a great source of income for blogs. So why are people always telling the owners of new blogs, advertising is evil? And If you place an ad on your site, Beelzebub himself is definitely going to stick a you know what up a you know where? O.k, that might have been a little over the top. Here’s some realistic opinions of why ads are supposedly bad for new blogs.
It gives the impression your out to make a quick buck
Aren’t the majority of blogs out to make a quick buck? Hang on, I forgot. Your blog has 27687 feed burner readers, of course you’re not trying to make a quick buck from your readers. Your affiliate links which are slapped from head to toe in your posts and on your pages, are only there to make your blog look pretty.
New readers and even loyal readers will never return when you place ads on your site
Has anyone got any hard evidence to back up this claim? Johnchow has a blog full of ads. I also see a blog full of loyal readers.
You should be concentrating of promoting your blog. Not placing ads.
Fair point. But it’s hardly a lifetimes work placing an ad on your blog. You copy some fancy code, open up your source code and paste it in. Ad placement is important. It may take a little longer to work out. But Surely people are capable of promoting and advertising at the same time.
New blogs have low traffic. Your ad is worthless
This one is very true. But what if you get lucky? What if an ad relevant to a few of your visitors tastes is on your site? I recently had a referral ad up for a stock flash site. 3-4 days ago I got lucky and made a little bit on money.
Some basic ideas
If you look around the web you’ll notice a lot of blogs like to use 2 column 125×125 ad’s. For so many blogs to be using this method, surely it must be paying off. What you have to remember here is, these types of ads are usually paid ads. Someone pays you $200 a month for there image to placed in one of the blocks. If you’re a new blog, nobody in their rite mind is going to pay you that much to advertise on your site. So using the the 2 columns ad blocks should be put on hold. You could always offer the blocks out for free though. This should hopefully generate a little bit of traffic and if your site starts to grow, you might be able to start asking for a small monthly fee. In my opinion, having Images such as ”Advertise here free” make you look desperate. It might give the impression that you’re blog isn’t very popular. But then again, I’m sure it will attract advertisers as advertisers love free space. I would probably hide the ad blocks untill I have enough ads to fill all or most of them. Try to make sure you have a link somewhere on your site telling people your accepting new ads and create a post too.
You could try some affiliate links. Links that point towards a certain item which you receive commission if that item is purchased. Affiliate marketing is a whole new ball game, but if you’re going to try it, try to advertise something that’s relevant to your site. Use your head, try to blend the link in to your site, find a suitable place to put it. Create a post that is somehow going to tie in with your item. It wont be easy for a new blog to pull off. But it can be done.
To be successful with advertising you’re going to have to start experimenting. Those two methods are widely used. I’m sure if you really wanted to, you could come up with something 10x better.
But wait! You’re a new blog, you will fail if you experiment. Even more so with ads.
Ha, one of the best things to do when you first start blogging is to experiment. It’s a whole new world, and a free world at that. If you want to play around with advertising do it! Surely it’s better to start early? Remember. It’s Your Blog, Your Ads, Your Rules!
Are you a new blog with successful ad revenue? Let me know.
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